Drew McFedries, Marcus Hicks scratched from Shark Fights 13 event

All mixed martial arts promotions are forced to deal with the reality of injuries, and the upstart Shark Fights organization is no exception.

While the Texas-based promotion will host its first-ever pay-per-view event with next week’s Shark Fights 13 card, the organization will need to secure a pair of late replacements.

Shark Fights head Brent Medley on Friday confirmed with MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) that both Drew McFedries and Marcus Hicks have been forced to withdraw from the event and replacements are currently being sought.

McFedries had been expected to face Joey Villasenor (27-7), and Hicks was set to face Karen Darabedyan (9-3).

MMAjunkie.com has also learned that Ohio native Daniel Straus (12-3) has verbally agreed to step in for Hicks, though Shark Fights officials have yet to officially announce the change.

A Team Vision MMA fighter, Straus is currently riding an eight-fight win streak that includes a June win over Chad Hinton under the Bellator Fighting Championships banner, as well as a January win over three-time UFC veteran Gideon Ray.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?